97 4wd Ranger AHU swap

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Since I finally have made some proper progress on my swap I figured that I should probably start a build thread. The project itself is a bit over 3 years in the making. I bought a really nasty 99 mk3, yanked the engine and tossed the car asap before it could infect anyone. I didn't really do anything after that for over a year because uni kind of took over. Started back working on it last summer and made some decent progress.

The original plan called for a 2wd reg cab s10 to be the swapee but I found a really clean (rust wise, for Ontario) 4wd ext cab ranger and just couldn't pass it up.



I couldn't find any drawings for the 4.0 bell housing the ranger so I picked up an nv3500 w/ transfer case and flywheel from an S10. I figured using a good heavy sbc flywheel and clutch would net me minimal gear chatter at idle and a good strong clutch without having to resort to any upgraded after market parts. The S10 nv3500 also has the shift tower 6" farther rear than the ranger m5od so it should feel less clunky when shifting, I'm not a fan of how the rangers shift.

sbc clutch vs the stock vw clutch


Drew up the adapter from tdi-> sbc, cut it out with the torch and punched the holes on my mill. Probably out by a few thou but it'll do for now, I might remake it at some point if I'm chewing up pilot bushings in under 100k km's or so. Had the crank adapter made up because I don't trust myself to cut it out on a rotary table with zero run out. I can send any one the drawings for them if you want.






I finally sorted through 90% of the wiring today and fired it up for the first time. The bin in the back right is what I stripped out, still have some more to go. I'm using an old 1.5kW? sbc starter because I got it with the flywheel. Bit on the small side but I figure that with the added leverage from the larger radius flywheel it should work fine. I have a vid I might post if I ever get around to making a youtube account.





The current time line is to get the correct pilot bushing for the input shaft and get the engine sitting in the truck with the mounts mocked up before April. Then its accessories, rad and turbo plumbing before May. Maybe drive shaft as well. I'm giving my golf to my brother to commute to uni so I need to have it running and driving before the summer starts to have time to work out the bugs.


 
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A-man930

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Location
St. Louis
TDI
Planning Stages: ALH Jeep MJ
I've got to be honest I was about to scoff at that adapter, but if you've got access to a mill ... why not?!
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
I've got to be honest I was about to scoff at that adapter, but if you've got access to a mill ... why not?!

It certainly looks questionable doesn't it? Its on my list of things to redo after its running and driving.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Been swamped with schoolwork for the last few weeks and I doubt that'll change for the next month or so until exams are done.

Despite that though, I have managed to pretty up the harness some. Need to get some more tape and get the engine in the truck before I finish up with the taping. Not sure how much of the wiring I an bundle up together.


I also swapped over a new-ish vnt15 and alh intake from a well worn alh I have sitting around to get the intake pointing in the right direction, also discovered that with the proper application of an adjustable wrench the stock vnt15 hard line can be made to fit an ahu.

On a side note, anyone know the best way to remove exhaust studs without messing the threads? I tried jamming two nuts together, didn't work.
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Took a bit of time to play around in the garage today. Dragged the trans out and bolted it up to make check clearances again. Turns out my starter was angled down a few degrees so I'll have to tweak that.



I had initially tried to relocate the water pump and use a ps pulley from an alh to run it on the serpentine belt and to gain some clearance with the steering box. Made up a fancy bracket to move the pump out ~6" and back 1/2 from the block.



You can see the very rough mounting of it and some accessories in the first post. I decided against that and put it back in the proper place with the vw alt because while it did solve the inital clearance issue it created new issues with locatinos for the other accessories. Problem now is that It's interfering with my mounts that I made up when it was in the different location.



Also cut off the lower half of the alternator bracket because it would have interfered with the steering box again. Thats pretty much all i've done to date. Need to wait until next weekend to have a solid 3 hours to tear into yanking the engine from the ranger.
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Small update, more for me so I can convince myself that Im actually making progress.

Started to pull the engine from the ranger, have everything disconnected and was ready to pull the whole thing out but ran out of time when exams started so its just been sitting loose for the last few weeks. Also ordered a chip programmer to burn my tune and some misc electrical parts to build my fan controller and a couple gauges. Starter rebuild kit, capscrews for head bolts and a new alternator are the next things on my purchase list. So progress is happening on the planning side but nothing really good to show.

On a bit of a side note, if you ever need plugs/connectors for your harness try this style of connectors http://www.ebay.ca/itm/122202827053?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT dirt cheap and come in any size from 1-6 pin. The first batch I bought were molded from nylon so they're good and strong but might be brittle if your rough with them in cold weather.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Finally made some tangible process today. Yanked the crusty 4.0 out of the ranger and stripped its harness of the oil pressure and coolant temp gauge that feed to the cluster. Embarrassingly enough it took the better part of 4 hours to pull that engine out.


Trans and transfercase will be sold but the 4.0 is going straight to scrap, its a complete pile.


The engine bay needs a serious cleaning but I'm going to stick with my plan of getting the stupid thing running and driving before I go do a frame off on it.

I'll be dropping the tdi in tomorrow and mocking up the mounts. I'm really hoping I can use my nice aluminum s10 drive shaft, unfortunately I think it will be too short.
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf


Could someone convince me that running the belt on both sides of the ps pulley is a bad idea? It works perfectly for what I need but just doesn't sit right with me. Obviously the v belt pulley will be replaced with a vr6 pulley.
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Slow progress is being made. Been working 50-60 hour weeks since I finished school so very little time to work on things. Work got called off today cause of the heavy rain so I finally had time to get stuff done.

Wasn't too productive but I cleaned up the garage and finally got around to putting in some proper electrical instead of just using extension cords. After that I tossed the engine back in to sort out mounts and drive shaft. I have the engine tucked far back in the bay and I can use a ext cab s10 single piece drive shaft. If I move the engine forward 4" I could use a reg cab long box 4wd chevy drive shaft but I like the amount of free room I have in front.


Ignore the sketchy motor mount I just slapped that on to give myself a reference point.


Had to move the egine mount from the stock position because It interfered too much with the water pump. Ill be moving it back right beside the oil filter. Will probably go with a remote setup if space proves to be too tight.



It was raining quite hard so I didn't mess with the trans mount. I was being a wuss and didn't feel like being soaked from lying on the ground.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
The sad thing is that thats a clean truck for Ontario. Floors are solid which is what counts.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Got a bunch done in the last week. Not many pictures though, I'll take some when I get home.

What I've got done
-Motor mounts
-Trans mount
-Completely re worked starter mount and shaved .250 off the crank spacer
-Shifter
-PS resevoir mounted
-PS and alt bracket
-Wiring harness routed and in place

Not too much really but enough to get me excited about it again.

These are the only pictures that I actually took.



I'm actually kinda proud of how this piece came out. It fit first try and everything is lined up perfectly. I'll be locking the stock tensioner in place and i'll mount a tensioner up by the alt. Probably a chevy 5.3 tensioner or maybe an old timing belt one.

The next things on my list are
-Drop fuel tank to drain and remove fuel pump
-Find correct conversion u joint for s10 drive shaft to ranger yoke
-Plumb coolant system
-Exhaust? Still undecided on how I'm going to run it

I"m still trying to decide if I'm going to run and intercooler initially or not. I have plans for compounds on this and the stock vw intercooler wont be enough once I do that so I really don't want to spend the money or time on making it work. Gonna be heading into winter in a few months so I think I can get away without one.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
More progress made. Actually took pics of the motor mounts and worked up a down pipe. Drained the gas from the tank by jumping the in tank pump. Going to throw 10L of diesel in there tomorrow and drain that then fill the tank full. Hopefully that will be enough to get all the gas out of the system.

Passenger side


Drivers side, you can see how I moved the motor mount from the stock position to let the water pump clear.


Downpipe made from the stock vw exhaust. Plenty of room to fit but will be tight when I step up to 3" later. Turned out pretty decent considering I've never done exhaust work before. Need to pick up a 2" ball and socket coupler to mate with the rest of the stock ranger exhaust.





And finaly, two pics of how the engine sits in the bay. I've roughly layed out the wiring harness but I'm not completely satisfied with how messy it is so Its not set in stone yet.



 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Bunch of stuff has been done but not many pictures as usual.

-Finished clearncing the heater box and sealed it back up again.
-Coolant system is done minus buying a 2' section of hose.
-Tensioner on serpentine system is done.
-Ordered timing belt, exhaust studs ect. All the stuff needed to make the engine ready to run.
-Ecu mounted and engine wiring finalized.
-Fuel system done. Lift pump mounted and fuel filter mounted.
-s10 driveshaft mated to ranger axle flange. For reference a ranger axle flange needs a napa 372 ujoint and a explorer axle flange needs a Napa 355 u joint. The difference between the two is the width of the ford cross, the ranger is something like 5/8" narrower.


Lift pump and ecu mount are both visible. Lift pump location is not ideal but it primed the system with no fuel in the liens so it seems to be working fine. Ill be keeping an eye on it
My waste gate also came in but my plans changed slightly while it was being shipped so I wont be needing it until next summer.


To do list:
-Efan shroud
-Throttle bracket (1/2 done)
-Weld up my complete hackery of charge piping
-Wire starter
-Speedometer converter + oil and temp gauges
-Re seal transfer case and sort out some kind of shifter boot for trans.

The end is very much in sight and baring any major setbacks I expect it to take it for a test drive by the end of the month but I dont expect to finish all the finishing touches and have it licensed until closer to Christmas.
Im itching to get this done so I can dump my golf and get back to driving a truck.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Jesus you guys have some rusty cars up there. Wow. :(

Someone already makes an adapter for the Vulcan engine. Not the Cologne like your truck has, but all you'd need to do is find a Mazda R5 gearbox from a Vulcan truck (there are plenty of those out there) and use that. Just in case you find your adapter does not work.
 

All Stock

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
Location
Michigan
TDI
AHU
You are going to have problems with your belt setup. I am in the process of reconfiguring mine as well.

The issue you are going to have is your tensioner is on the load side of the crank. It needs to be on the slack side. Mine exhibited the problem and it was post Water pump drive. It helped marginally for me to use a clutched alt pulley as VW originally did, but it did not solve it. The spring will eventually weaken on the tensioner and it will move due to a load situation and then tension again. It will bounce at idle due to load > slack > load > slack and on. When revved up its fine (constant higher load), but my observation was only when parked not going down the road.
I even tried flipping mine on the spring, no change.

On Edit: Duh, just noticed you mentioned you intended to lock the tensioner in place.. That will solve it. I'll leave the post intact in case someone else attempts this and needs the explanation why it wont work.
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Yeah i had wanted to use the tensioner as a sprung tensioner but decided against it for the same reason you mentioned. Right now I made a little adjustable position lock for it and im just gonna use that to tension the belt for now. See how that goes and might just leave it if there's no problem. I have a big flywheel with almost twice the moi of the vw one so im counting on that dampening out the torque reversals to gasser levels.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Can I block off the coolant port on the back of my head and pull the heater core coolant from the main coolant outlet? I had always assumed no but I came across a thread that leads me to believe that that only applies to alh and newer.
 

vanbcguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Location
Vancouver, BC
TDI
'93 Passat - AHU mTDI with GTB1756VK
There shouldn't be any real problem on the AHU pulling coolant only from the front of the head. Pretty sure the side and front outlets are connected together. VW moved temperature sensors around between those two flanges over the years implying they felt they were both doing the same thing.

Some of the earlier IDI cars (which use the same basic cooling system layout but which put quite a bit more heat per hp in the cooling system) used flow control valves on the heater core feed from the side of the head that would completely block flow when the heat was off.

Sent from my LG-H873 using Tapatalk
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
The coolant circuit needs to remain intact, as designed. I know for sure that if you do not have the heater circuit open, the engine will overheat starting with #4 cyl, as a member here found this out on his Studebaker pickup swap.
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
you might could block off the front outlet and run an ALH flange on the end of the head... would require some die grinder work and drilling/tapping for the larger flange but i would study the coolant diagrams and be prepared to waste a head ... i remember someone posting a pic of an euro market ahu/1z style head that did NOT have a coolant outlet on the front of the head... i realize this may not address what you were trying to do... just throwing ideas out there ;)
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Figured I'd post the picture of the modified heater box I have, just cause everyone like pictures. Probably didn't need the silicone to seal it but I wanted a complete seal. I like my heat


My Id parts order with timing belt, exhaust studs and the other needed parts to get the engine ready to run reliably arrived to day so I just need to find someplace that stocks a 15x21mm bushing or bearing and doesn't want $25+ to ship a $5 part. I love Canada...
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Pilot bushing finally arrived so I buttoned up the back for the engine, adapter, spacer and flywheel all torqued and locktited. The engine is finaly ready to go in for the last time once I do the timing belt,


Also sorted out the hackery of charge piping I'm using until later. No inter cooler for version 1.0


Need to buy a crank sprocket and bolt then finish the timing belt.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
More progress today. Made up a fan shroud/mount and throttle sensor mount. Couple other small things but those were the main items.



Don't have a better picture of the fan shroud but there's a ring of 1" 18gauge under the fan keeping it off the rad. Its a stock volvo fan from a xc70 wagon. Has a nice factory 2 speed fan controller. Same car I pulled my turbo off of actually.

The backet I made up to use the ford cable with the vw sensor. I get about 85% throttle before the carpet in the truck interferes with the pedal. I can push harder and get almost 100% travel but I think I'm going to adjust the throttle map to reflect this and put a hard stop on the pedal in the cab.


Thinking of mounting it here by the ecu but ill have to see when I get the engine back in before I make it permanent. Only thing I don't like it how close it is to the rad cap





Barring any set backs there is a chance I could have the truck driving next weekend but a more realistic time frame is 2 weeks from now. I have a few hours of finish wiring and a flange from the back of the head for the heater core to fab along with a bit of plumbing and it should be good for a test drive around the block. I'll need a bunch of fiddling for the gauges plus a few non swap related items to finish before it can be safetied and licensed.

Im currently waiting on a crank sprocket to come in at the parts store so I can finish up the timing belt then in goes the engine. I'm expecting to have it Monday.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
So how bad would it be over driving the water pump by 30% given that this is a fairly slow turning engine? I need to put the water pump on the serpentine belt right now and I have a pulley I can make work but it would result with the pump turning faster. What it means is that instead of turning 6250rpm@5k the pump would be turning 8300rpm@5k. By comparison a 1.8 has the water pump turning 8300rpm@6.6k engine rpm. I'm more concerned with the water pump speed at 3-4k because that's where the engine could potentially be sitting at while being heavily loaded. Water pump speed @4k would be something like 6.6k. Personally I'm comfortable with these numbers but I want to know what others think.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Decided to scratch the vnt 15 and just run my td04 from the start. I was only running the vnt15 because I thought the egr port on the ahu manifold would interfere with the firewall. Decided to check and what do ya know it clears by a 1/2 inch. Td04 it is then.

Its a td04-13G from a old volvo 2.5. I had quite a bit of confusion when I measured the compressor because it measures with a 42mm inducer and 56mm exducer which lines up with a 15c not a 13g . Turns out its a volvo specific wheel. It flows 4lb/m more so I'm not complaining. Has a 7cm (0.49 A/R) housing on the exhaust so I'm a bit worried about the spool but it did come off a 2.5 and was also a stock turbo on a 2.5 diesel with the 7cm housing so I'm hoping it wont be too bad.

The td04 has a built in blow off valve it looks like. Had a single pressure reference on top of the diaphragm that I'll be feeding boost pressure for now but I might look into using it as a controlled air leak at low rpm if I actually spool fast enough to run into surge.

Sorry for the poor pics I think I had a smudge on the camera.



 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Started it in the truck for the first time. The key works but I have a bad starter relay/solenoid so I had to jump the starter. Just need to buy a section of 1.25 rad hose, put the transfer case and drive shaft in and I could take it for a quick drive down the road right now but I'm going to hold off until I have a few more things done. I didn't have the oil drain done but I wanted to start it so no turbo for the video,


EDIT: How do you embed videos here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glomf3QlVDA&
 
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Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Bought a new solenoid and wired up the glow plugs. Starts with the key now and embarrassingly enough it definitely starts better than my daily driver even after siting for 3 years. I might need to do valve guides and seals because its got some good blue smoke on start up and the #3 intake port had some oil in it. Hoping it cleans up when its warm because I'd like to get it on the road first.

Also made up an oil drain and relocated the waste gate.




Welded up a 90 from 2" exhaust and used an intake piece from the vw and from a volvo for the charge piping. Still need to see about putting the iat sensor in there.




The exhaust is almost done but I discoverd that the flange for the td04 is too large to fit between the trans and frame rail like the vnt15 could so I need to cut that section in two and add a joint in there.
Also waiting on a harmonic balancer to arrive since mine was absolute toast. I have today off so I'm planning on getting it to the point where I can just fill it with coolant, bleed the clutch and drive it around on the weekend.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
So I've ran into quite a snag. I pulled the chips from the ecu, read then so I could work on a tune and put them back in. Made sure the HHH and LLL were in the right sockets and now im getting a no start. Checked to make sure power is going where it should be and everything is grounded. Cranks over but not even a thought of starting. What could have I messed up with the ecu when I pulled the chips? And just in case, who's the guy on the forum who sells the rover pumps? Might go that way if I need a new ecu.

EDIT: My ecu is a 028 906 021 JB would I need to replace it with a JB version or would any 028 906 021 work?
 
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